Health: The Common Issue that Hopes Priority

In our field visit to Kundar Para village of Gaibandha District, Joy Guillemot from World Health Organization asked local women to share impacts of floods in their health and that of their children. There were around 25 women in the interaction. While answering the question, all women simultaneously started replying, with which the observers including me surprised to see and hear their eternal feelings! They shared about the loss of children’s’ lives, outbreak of diseases such as diarrhea, skin and eye related diseases, increased temper of the women because of the burden, pressure and the mental tension due to floods and river bank erosion and beating to their kids. As Men are mostly mobile and are out of their homes, it was women who suffered most from such unprecedented events, who have to look after elderly persons in their family, children, livestock and their property. In the future projection and uncertainty, it will be women who will suffer more. Hence, health is a serious issue when we deal with the issue of climate change. Certainly the healthy people in the healthy ecosystems have high adaptive capacity and ultimately are resilient.

The issues of scaling up of community based adaptation in Health were discussed in the 20th parallel session of the 5th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change in Dhaka. The session was a good learning opportunity for me though it was attended by around 45 participants including the session chair and presenters. The cases and experiences from Bhutan, Vietnam, Jordan and Bangladesh reflected the importance of integrating health sector adaptation with an especial emphasis in the national and international plans and policies.
The strategies of adaptation such as risk identification, integrated surveillance, alert network, emergency preparedness, and disease preparedness were identified as the prominent in health sector. The strong and efficient communication among the people and their networks, mobilization of community based organizations and nongovernmental organizations for early detection and response, strengthening of existing operational mechanisms and services, and building adequate human resources were some important strategies for upscaling community based adaptation in health sector.
Much more interesting and a take home message were the initiatives of Government of Bangladesh in the health sector with especial focus on adaptation to climate change, which every government in the least developed nations and developing nations must learn, and the civil society organizations need to lobby with their respective government. They have been prioritizing capacity building of human resources and communities, risk reducing practices and developing appropriate innovation and technology in the health sector. Community clinics at ward level to address climate vulnerability and community radio initiatives as early warning system can be taken as its attention at the local level. At the national level, the focus of health sector vulnerability and adaptation in Bangladesh Climate change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) and National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) can be considered as the major breakthroughs. The Climate Change and Health Promotion Unit (CCHP) under the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust, I considered an important and rational response of government to protect its vulnerable peoples.

In the conclusion, I was fortunate being with the health conscious people in the discussion who were actually distilled from the mass of 300 in the conference. I was there to get ideas and issues to integrate, in the future, the issues of health sector adaptation in the community level work and national policy lobby processes in my country. It was a good start from this conference that health issue got a priority. Nevertheless, the coming conferences, it would really provide insights for all if health is discussed in the plenary sessions than in a parallel session.

The Need of Integrated Approach: CBA vs EBA

Thank God that communities are adapting to the impacts of climate change by diversifying their livelihood options and rehabilitating the ecosystems and managing the natural resources to the best they can. But scientists in the 5th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change in Dhaka were debating on Community Based Adaptation (CBA) and Ecosystem Based Adaptation (EBA). This was the reality of the 17th parallel session of the conference "The role of ecosystems in adaptation".

The session started with a three minute eye-closed-thinking chaired by Helen Jeans, WWF and Hannah Reid, IIED.

During the three minute thinking, participants were asked to think as if he or she is stream that continuously flows to its destination, lake that supports a diversity of life, tree that stands still and looks after what is going on around, wild lives running here and there, soil supporting a diversity of life, fishes swimming freely in the lake, birds flying here and there, and people doing agriculture and raising livestock who has been utilizing the natural resources by generation. The moment realized the context of ecosystem and interrelations within it.

Panel presentations went on continuously. Presenters suggested based on their experiences,various ways to scale CBA practices at ecosystem level such as: community empowerment, uniting traditional and scientific knowledge on adaptation, developing synergies among different actors, and balancing policy issues and natural process by identifying the underlying causes of vulnerability such as gender, marginalization, and traditional knowledge base. In this context, there is a need of balancing focus on ecosystem improvement, empowerment and benefit sharing, and livelihood improvement.

However, at the point of discussion, a mix thoughts were raised by the participants about CBA and EBA. Some said these are same some said these are different, .........
Because, traditionally, scientists and development workers have made demarcation in the field of conservation and development though it has been gradually realized as the need of merging people and nature centric approaches for sustainable management of natural resources. This may be the residual impact of orientation to those persons in the respective field, which in the changed situation need to be thought again!!!

Whether we debate on CBA or EBA and made distinction, livelihood promotion and sustainable natural resource management should strategy should go parallel. For this to achieve, CBA can complement to EBA. Because CBA is for community level who are associated with the natural resources for their livelihoods. And if communities are not aware on the issues of climate change and the role of natural resources or ecosystem services, if they are not linked with the opportunities in the marketing of the products of the ecosystem services, and if they are not involved in the equitable benefit sharing mechanisms from the management of natural resources, and if their livelihood options are not diversified, and if the community based adaptations are not complemented at the watershed or ecosystem level, every sector in the community and element of the ecosystem will be threatened and ultimately the human being.

However, the great great moment of the session was that it ended with the following common consensus: 'An integrated approach is needed in the context when we are moving into the new world'!!!!! Where CBA and EBA must complement!!!

Keshab Thapa

Learning from the youths (Climate Champions)

A short but very interesting session, which was organized in the evening of 29th March 2011 by the British Council Bangladesh, delivered the climate impacts and messages of the affected people to the more than 200 climate scientists from 60 countries of the world, who have been attending the 5th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation in Bangladesh.

It was an exciting moment to see the roles that the youths through British Council's climate generation programme are playing to document the realities of the field (which are/will be otherwise unreal to the scientists) and to raise the awareness of ordinary people who are the affected most.

During that short session, the screening of videos documented stories from the Nepal himalaya to the coastal region of Bangladesh depicted the different stories but raised by the common causes i.e. green house gases and the global warming and then climate change!!!

The films were from Nepal and Bangladesh, and there were champions from the both countries also but these films have covered the issues of most climate vulnerable peoples and ecosystem that need urgent attention with on the ground work.

These realities also drew an attention of the climate scientists to realize on the need of immediate attention for technology and a transparent finance transfer to the most vulnerable people and nations from the impacts of climate change.

Let us hope, there will be no longer debate on climate governance to support the least developed countries!!!!

Learning from the Scientists

After a 3 day long field trip, where and when I observed the impacts of climate change and community adaptation responses, I am regularly following up the plenaries and parallel sessions of the 5th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation in Hotel Sheraton, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Presentations have been done and discussions are going on different thematic areas starting from the general, but more important, concepts of climate terminologies in relation to adaptation to scaling up approaches and methodologies in costing, planning, governance, and etc.

Following the parallel session is really challenging to capture the topic of interest and specific presentation of the interest. In addition, discussion at the end of the session is still not being able to consider the raised hands of the scientists due to the large mass and curiosity to understand, learn and unlearn.

With such opportunities and limitations, I am trying to distill the learning and findings from the different parts of the world. Let us hope and ensure, it will add a new dimension to my work after I return my home.

Keshab Thapa

Learning from the most vulnerables

Background

It was a great pleasure for us to visit Bangladesh in the momentum when the people are celebrating their 40th independent day. Being a citizen of an always independent country, I realized the peoples’ feelings, pride, and love to their country as her common citizen; may it be from children, youth, women, men and elderly ones. However, they are always threatened with the natural unexpected and unpredictable phenomena. Though the country is celebrating its independent day, it is ranked as the most vulnerable country from the hazards and impacts of climate change in the world, signifying that, it needs a tremendous effort, in terms of investment and collaboration, to let its people out of the risks and vulnerability from climate change. In order to acclimatize to the changed context of climate by seeing the impacts and community responses and learning lessons and replicable practices, and more importantly get interacted with the climate change context that Bangladesh is facing, a 3 day field trip was organized. It was Gaibandha district on our behalf to enjoy the trip!

Journey and Welcoming

We started our journey on 25th March 2011 from Dhaka at 9:20 A.M. Due to the heavy traffic, we reached the office of Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK), Gaibandha at 5:30 P.M. In GUK, we had a wonderful warm welcome from its staffs and the representative from Practical Action Bangladesh. Just after getting refreshed, we were invited in the meeting hall for the brief orientation about the field trip and the activities being implemented by Practical Action Bangladesh and GUK for disaster risk management.


Community Initiatives

In the second day, we visited Belka village, has been flooding since 25 years during June-December. Flood accompanied with riverbank erosion, the major climatic hazard, has washed away the productive lands of so many people in Bangladesh, who are now reluctant to cultivate in the unproductive lands. But these unproductive sands are their unavoidable option to sustain their livelihoods. At the area and nearby Belka, there are 2500 households, affected with flood and riverbank erosion, living in the government managed embankment.


The devastating flood, which they are experiencing more frequently, has made the people from landlord to landless. Even the riverbank erosion has made a shock in the peoples’ livelihood even for a maximum of seven times in the history of some families. Nevertheless, it is those people who need to cope and adapt to these risks and impacts to sustain their livelihood. So, in order to adapt to the flood, the displaced farmers have started doing cage fish culture, floating garden, and sand bar cultivation with the technical support from Practical Action Bangladesh.

20 farmers of Belka have initiated floating garden and cage fish culture in the Khas land to adapt to the flooding. Each farmer is allowed to construct and manage 2 beds of floating garden, where they grow Cancong (a leafy vegetable) and red amaranthus (also a leafy vegetable). The floating garden is prepared by utilizing the water hyacinth that is abundant during the flooding period, by accumulating water hyacinth in the form of a nursery bed and decomposing. This type of farming has supported farmers to supply the family nutrition from vegetable and also earn some money by selling to the nearby market. In addition, the well decomposed manure or compost is also sold in the market. From the cage fish culture, they are able to produce 25-40 Kg fishes per cubic meter cage per culture cycle. If the flood persists for long time i.e. more than 3 months, they can go for 2-3 culture cycle.


Not only the flooded lands, but farmers were found to utilize the unproductive lands of the sandbar through cultivating pumpkin and squash. With technical and material support from Practical Action Bangladesh, 80 farmers (of which 60 are women and who can imaging for the burden to those women?) are cultivating pumpkin and squash on 24 acres of land in the sandbar. This cultivation has been possible due to the deposition of alluvial soil during flooding. And at current, they have benefited from this sandbar cultivation as most of the farmers have become able to buy livestock (goat and cattle) as a secured livelihood option in the changing context. And even some farmers have become a resource farmer and are teaching others about the cultivation of pumpkin and squash and even cage fish farming and floating gardens.

But, still there is a question of uncertainty of their right to use these unproductive lands once these become fertile after years they do cultivate, which does not belong to those landless people and neither is it a khas land, with the hope that government, if they lobby, will hand over to them in the future. However, it is their ultimate livelihood option and they are investing their huge efforts to produce more and more and make this land fertile over the due course of time. Let not think about the mechanism of payment or compensation to these people on behalf of transforming the unproductive lands to the productive ones, later when the land becomes fertile, the landlords produce the luxury crops (for example: rice and tobacco) and they must compel to find other unproductive lands and repeat the history several times.

Compared to the past 15 years, farmers have experienced increased temperature (mostly in April-May), decreased precipitation with its shifting patter in the later part of monsoon (June-July to Aug-Nov) but flooding, and increased intensity of cold. Community recalled the big floods and their devastating effects of 1988 and 2007. In this context, the initiative from Practical Action Bangladesh to construct a cluster village in Schumacher Pali is noteworthy to protect the people and their households, who previously were displaced, from flood and riverbank erosion. The cluster village is constructed in the khas land but it was taken in lease for 99 years from government. With the construction of cluster village, the livelihood option of the community is diversified than that of earlier. Earlier their livelihood option was only the water labor and they didn’t have their own house. Now, they do have their own house along the skills of producing pumpkin and squash in the sand bar and bamboo made products along with wage labor.

After visiting the cluster village, the transect walk along with motor boating along the Bhramhaputra river was ever memorable for us and the community consultation in Kundar Para with the empowered voices of women, never the least. The communities in this village have been living since 25 years. However, the major threat to this village is flood and riverbank erosion. In 1986, there was a flood that displaced them heavily, which remain submerged till 1992. After 1992, they found some char land there and some 14 families started making shelter in the area. During 1994, they experiences a prolonged drought followed by a heavy flood in 1995. So, people moved to the main land to avoid flood and came back to their land and there appeared more char land and many families started to stay in this area but still it is affected by the flood.

In order to protect the families and the land, the chairperson of the village asked GUK for some support. After then, GUK initiated its work by establishing a flood shelter in the village in 1995. During that period there were only 88 families living, which now has become 300. The female members of the community remembered the devastating impacts of flood as no access to school, market, disease outbreak, fear of loss of children, no movement, no drinking water, no access to health centers, and damage to their house and the crops they used to grow up and harvest. But after the support from GUK on Flood shelter along with capacity building activities and disaster preparedness plan, they have enhanced access to market, solar energy, portable stove (with firewood and essential medicine), safer drinking water, and basic services. Their capacity is also enhanced to understand the impacts and causes of climate change. As a symbol of socioeconomic progress, they have now flood shelter which they can use during flood, early marriage among the girl is reduced, and access to market has increased. They also have a flood shelter committee run by a 23 member committee, which has been responsible for preparing plan for disaster preparedness, monitoring river, identifying the vulnerable households and participatory planning. More importantly, it has given due attention to take care of pregnant and lactating women and save livestock by keeping them in separate place during flooding.


Key Learning

Personally, it was a unique and great learning opportunity to find out the community dealing with floods and river bank erosion to sustain their livelihoods. Not only to be shared the learning during the conference and through the blogs, the adaptation options and strategies initiated by the communities are replicable in my country in the areas having similar vulnerability context. However, I felt a need of Intergovernmental cooperation among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal for integrated river basing management in order to manage the climate induced hazards in the long run. Certainly, there are efforts needed to link up these strategies to the national policy makers and planners so that they can prepare for the uncertain with robust planning and preparation.

Never the least, I found an answer of why community based adaptation to climate change just seeing the success of flood shelter constructed by local NGO but the failure of flood shelter from government simply due to the difference in approaching the experiences and knowledge of local community!!!

Keshab Thapa